Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of Modified 9Cr-1Mo Welds Produced by Narrow Gap Hot Wire and Cold Wire Gas Tungsten Arc Welding Processes for 500MWe PFBR Steam Generators

Abstract

Modified 9Cr-1Mo material is selected as principal material of construction of Steam Generators (SG) for India's first of its kind 500MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). The fabrication of PFBR Steam Generators involves welding of 12mm, 30mm and 90mm thick modified 9Cr-1Mo components which were carried out by combination of hot wire and cold wire Gas Tungsten Arc Welding processes. Hot wire Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) is a relatively new process and limited machines/facilities are available in India for welding with this technique. The most important benefit from the use of a hot wire GTAW system is high weld deposition rate and reduced dilution & porosities from the weld deposits. Eventhough welds were meeting the specification requirements during welding procedure qualification, limited information available on hot wire GTAW process in open literature motivated authors for characterization of welds produced by this specialized technique. During welding procedure qualification, it was found that impact test results of weld metal produced by cold wire GTAW process is superior than weld metal produced by hot wire GTAW process. In light of this, detailed investigation & micro-structural analysis is carried out to find out the root cause for variation in impact properties. This paper details the systematic evaluation and interesting observations during characterization of microstructure & mechanical properties of modified 9Cr-1Mo welds produced by hot wire and cold wire GTAW processes.